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AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN WHIG AND CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETIES 



OF THE 



COLLECfE OF NEW-JERSEY. 



SEPTEMBER .29, 1835. 



• 

BY WILLIAM GASTON, LL.D. 



4 Q fern 



SECOND EDITION. 



PRINCETON, ST. J. 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY R. E. HORNORv 



1835. 



■V 



3^ s 

&* 



EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETY, 
SEPTEMBER 30, 1835. 
Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to present the thanks of the So- 
ciety to the Hov. William Gaston, for the instructive and eloquent Address 
delivered by him yesterday ; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the 
same for publication. 

HON. S. L. SOUTHARD, } 

PROF. MACLEAN, ( Committee. 

D. N. BOGART, Esq. \ 



EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE AMERICAN WHIG SO- 
CIETY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1835. 
Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to present to the Hoiv. William 
Gasto.v, the grateful acknowledgments of this Society, for the able and eloquent 
Address delivered by him on the 29th instant; and to request a copy of the 
same for publication. 

RICHARD S. FIELD, Esq. } 

PROF. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, C Committee. 

MR. ALEXANDER TAYLOR, \ 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the American Whig and Cliosofhig 
Societies : 

Nine and thirty years have passed since the individual who 
stands before you quitted this venerable abode of learning, 
which, in obedience to your bidding-, he revisits on this inte- 
resting occasion. It has been asked by one of the mightiest 
masters in the science of the human heart — perhaps the 
mightiest known to our literature since the days of Shak- 
speare — whether the man breathes, who, returning home from 
a distant region, exclaims not with rapture, as he catches the 
first glimpse of his loved country, " This is my own, my na- 
tive land.'' Such, also, is the feeling which swells the breast 
of the wanderer, who, after a long absence, returns for the first 
time to the home of his education. The play days of his early 
years, and the objects of his early attachment^ his youthful 
emulations, and studies, and frolics : all the bright visions and 
romantic dreams, when life beat new and the pulse beat high, 
rush upon his recollection, as intimately connected with the 
spot long hallowed in his memory, and once more made fami- 
liar to his eye. And this, he exclaims, is my Alma Mater ! 
This the revered place of my training for life's severer duties ! 
When the first tumult of feeling subsides, and, casting his eyes 
around, he beholds numbers eagerly engaged, as he was here 
occupied before they were born, and longing, as he was wont 
to long, for the moment of release from college rules, and of 
entrance on that bright, sunny world, which fancy decorates 
with a thousand charms ; he revolves in his mind the changes 
for good and for ill, the gratified and disappointed hopes which 
have occurred since he bade farewell to this peaceful retreat ; 
busy memory crowds into a moment all the incidents of an 
eventful life ; (and whose life is not to himself eventful?) he is 
calmed into meditation and melted into kindness. Full of in- 
terest, too, is the occasion which thus brings together the mem- 
bers of these our societies, so widely dispersed and so long 
separated from each other. We have assembled to behold the 
ingenuous youths., who have just closed their academical ca- 



6 

reer, receive the awards of successful diligence, at once the 
testimonials of fitness, and the pledges of fidelity, to act well 
their allotted parts as men and citizens in the great drama of 
human life. You. my young friends, who remain, succeed to 
the office of upholding, in all their usefulness and vigour, these 
distinguished associations, whose well-being is so intimately 
connected with the honour of this ancient and renowned in- 
stitution. 

You, who go forth, leave behind associates endeared by 
many a proof of recollected kindness, and straining their eyes 
after you with many an anticipation of your future eminence; 
to meet parents, relations and friends exulting at the honours 
you have won, alarmed at the trials you have to encounter, 
but trusting that these will prove but new occasions of victory, 
and the means of yet higher advancement in whatever is good 
and great. Your elder brethren, interested in the welfare ot 
every one of you, and solicitous by counsel and exhortation to 
cheer you on to virtuous and resolved action, we are ourselves 
admonished, as we behold this succession of wave after wave 
on the ocean of life, that our term of probation is nearly spent, 
that we must soon yield our places to others; and that we 
should prepare to stand for our last examination and take our 
last degree — our examination and degree in immortality. Im- 
pressive are the topics thus presented to our notice, and salu- 
tary the reflections which they ought to suggest. Let us hope, 
then, that it is good for us all to be here. Let us endeavour, 
when we commune with our own hearts, to turn these impres- 
sions and reflections to account. It would be miserable vanity 
in me to suppose that my researches can open to you undis- 
covered truths, or that any trite remarks of mine can avail 
much to re-impress those already known. But I could not, 
without offence, have declined the office which your partiality 
assigned to me ; and my highest ambition will be amply grati- 
fied if I can illustrate some of the topics thus obviously sug- 
gested, in a manner which shall not shock that partiality and 
•entirely disappoint your expectations. 

Notwithstanding the veil of mystery which hides from pub- 
lic view the proceedings of our societies, their general objects 
are known to be literary improvement and the cultivation of 
friendship. In every stage of life these are noble pursuits, but 
they are peculiarly fitted to that portion of life which is passed 
within the college walls ; and it is difficult to imagine any 
means more effectual for their advancement than those which 
are presented by these associations. The great purposes for 
which youth submits to the labours and discipline of the col- 



lege, are the acquisition of accurate learning and the forma- 
tion of virtuous habits. By means of the society the student 
is enabled to bring into action, and to direct to its proper pur- 
pose, the learning which, from time to time, he acquires in the 
schools. Unless this be done, the mere materials of knowledge 
which the books furnish are of little use, and are soon lost. 
The mind must ruminate on its food in order to convert it into 
nourishment. The secresy which is observed as to all that 
passes within the hall of the society, protects the young adven- 
turer from the sneers of malignant criticism, while it secures 
to him the benefit of candid correction. He is stimulated to 
re-examine what he*Jias hastily read or cursorily considered ; 
to seek for an explanation of whatever is obscure, and a solu- 
tion of what is difficult in his studies ; to acquire and fix the 
habit of precise thought and correct expression ; to lay deep, 
broad, and strong the foundation of his learning ; and all this is 
effected without the austerity of formal instruction, and in de- 
lightful intercourse with affectionate friends. The exercises 
of the society give a tincture to his mind, inspire an early fond- 
ness for literary enjoyments, and rescue much of his invaluable 
time from trivial, vulgar, and immoral gratifications. The ge- 
nerous rivalry between the institutions keeps alive that spirit of 
emulation, for which, as an incentive to diligence, no adequate 
substitute has yet been found. The sensibility which each in- 
dividual feels, when the honour of his society is concerned, 
prompts him to regard the deficiency or misconduct of a bro- 
ther, as a stain upon that honour and a wound to the institu- 
tion. Thus, without repulsive regulations, the societies are in 
fact the most effectual and watchful of censors, and the most 
faithful guardians of probity, honour and diligence. 

The great duty of man, as a social being, is beneficence, and 
the great enemy of beneficence is selfishness. Social affections 
can rarely acquire their proper growth and strength, unless 
they be cultivated before the jostling of thronged and busy 
multitudes induces the necessity of peculiar attention to one's 
own convenience and comfort. Friendship here finds its finest 
soil and fittest season. Here it is not choked with the cares, 
and riches, and pleasures of the world, nor chilled by avarice, 
nor blasted by ambition. The cultivation of friendship, not 
as a transient feeling, but as a permanent sentiment ; friend- 
ship, not suddenly springing from capricious choice, but arising 
from congenial tastes, common sympathies, perfect confidence 
from the pursuit of the same objects, and those objects truly 
good and worthy of pursuit; fixes attachment on the basis of 
esteem, and raises it to the dignity of a virtue. There is no- 



g 5 

virtue purely solitary, and virtuous friendship is always fol- 
lowed by a goodly train of kindred excellencies. These in- 
tellectual and moral gratifications elevate the soul above the 
pleasures of mere appetite, while the decorum and dignity 
which preside over the exercises of the society, inculcate self- 
respect, thoughtfulness, and manly principle. Such gratifica- 
tions, and such exercises, are an admirable preparation for the 
more important duties of life, and impress the conviction that 
man is not born for idle sport and frivolous amusement, but 
for the grave offices which become a rational, a responsible, 
and an immortal being. " Neque enim ita generati a natura, 
sumus, ut ad ladum et joeum facti essajvideamur, sed ad 
severitatem potius et quaedam studia graviora et majora" 

You, then, my young friends, on whom it is to devolve the 
duty of upholding these associations, will readily see that it is 
not one of slight obligation or of unimportant consequences. 
Your predecessors have handed them down to you in high 
usefulness and reputation. In the larger world, it has been 
my lot to witness not a little of the discussions and delibera- 
tions which most attract public attention and command respect 
— those of the judicial hall and the legislative chamber. But 
no where have I seen propriety and decorum, rigorous rule at- 
tempered by gentlemanly courtesy, prevail with more firm and 
mild sway than in the society-hall. Boys in age, impetuous 
and thoughtless by nature, seemed to acquire a new character, 
and to be awakened to a new sense, the moment they entered 
into these adyta of friendship and literature. You will not, I 
am sure, suffer this deposit to be impaired in your hands, but 
deliver it down whole and unsullied to those who shall come 
after you. But remember, that the strife between your institu- 
tions is not the strife of foes ; that it is a fair, manly and gene- 
rous contest, not to pull each other down, but which shall the 
better merit the affectionate veneration of its sons, and which 
attract to itself the greater share of respect from the virtuous 
and wise abroad. Remember, too, that excellent as are these 
associations, they are mainly good as aiding and perfecting the 
advantages resulting from the regular duties of the college ; 
admirable adjuncts to solid scientific attainments, but miserable 
substitutes for them. Literature, unsupported by science, is of 
little value or duration. It has no root, and withers in its very 
greenness. Let the regular studies of the college command 
your faithful, systematic and persevering attention. It is a too 
common error in ardent and active minds, " studious of change 
and pleased with novelty," to despatch the prescribed task as 
quickly as decently they may, in order to revel in the luxuries 



9 

of mental gratification; in miscellaneous literature, and espe- 
cially such as is addressed to the passions and the imagination. 
This disposition, as it indicates quickness of apprehension and 
sensibility, that temperament which is usually called genius, 
is not only regarded with fondness, but sometimes most injudi- 
ciously fostered by admiring friends. There is great danger 
to be feared from its indulgence. The regular academical 
studies have been wisely selected as those best fitted to give to 
the youthful mind general vigour and expansion. Such de- 
partures from the system of education cause a disproportioned 
growth of some faculties at the expense of others ; of the 
showy at the expense of the useful ; of the fancy and the pas- 
sions to the impoverishment of reason and judgment. The 
young plant is made to overshoot and run to weed, and pro- 
duce no fruit. It maybe laid down universally as an error in v 
human conduct, ever to learn superficially, or to do carelessly, 
what is required to be learned or done at all.. Infidelity, even j 
in small matters, begets infidelity in those of higher moment. 
But these studies are not to be regarded as small things. They 
afford the surest foundation on which to erect the" future intel- 
lectual structure. With them every educated gentleman is 
presumed to be well acquainted, and deficient in them, he 
wants the authentic passport for admission into educated so- 
ciety, and is unfurnished with the means of contribution to its 
common fund. But this is above all dangerous, because each 
instance in which the occupations of duty are relinquished or 
slighted at the invitation of pleasure — although, considered in 
itself, the pleasure may be innocent — has a tendency to weaken 
the supremacy of that faculty which should preside with un- 
disputed sway over every affection, and to which of right be- 
long the direction and control of every propensity. Beware, 
too, of the absurdity of supposing an obseiwance of the disci- 
pline of the college incompatible with manly spirit. Order is 
heaven's first law, and there can be no order without subordi- 
nation. A deliberate breach of law shows profligacy and 
folly, the ferocity of an untamed, or the ignorance of an unin- 
formed nature ; but a cheerful submission to wise rule is the j 
highest evidence of that reasoning energy and decision of 
purpose which are among the noblest attributes of an intellec- 
tual being. Perhaps, in life, as in the productions of genius^ 
vivid perceptions and intense feelings may sometimes force us 
from vulgar bounds, and thus may a grace be occasionally 
snatched "beyond the reach of art;" but the observance of 
rules is the best general security for excellence in conduct, as 
in literary composition ; and he is a wretched pretender, wh<j 

2 



10 

seeks admiration by a breach of rules, without the atonement 
of a compensating grace. 

As the moment approaches, my young friends, when trained 
by moral and religious culture, and prepared by scientific and 
literary instruction, you are about to enter upon the world of 
business, and influence, and duty, how deep is the interest felt 
in your fate, and how earnest the wishes entertained for your 
success ! So thick are the dangers which beset your path, so 
numerous the temptations which may lure you into vice and 
error, and so frequent the instances in which the highest, and 
apparently the most rational hopes have been blasted, that the- 
fondest anticipations of friendship cannot relieve this interesf 
and these wishes from the admixture of serious apprehensions. 
Nor is it to your immediate friends that this solicitude is con- 
fined. In a country whose institutions are so popular as ours, 
vast is the influence which its educated youth must exercise 
in time to come upon its weal or wo. He, then, who loves that 
country, and venerates those institutions, may well be excused 
in entreating your attention to some reflections which he 
deems of deep concern to you, and, consequently to his fellow 
citizens. Far from attempting to repress that buoyancy of 
spirits which forms the charm of early years, he could yet 
wish it tempered with a little consideration. Each extreme of 
human life may be improved by borrowing a part of those dis- 
positions which belong more peculiarly to the other. As ad- 
vanced life is relieved from its austerity by appropriating to 
itself somewhat of the cheerfulness of early years, youth may 
be saved from fatal mischiefs by a sprinkling of the prudence 
of age; " Ut enim adolescentum in quo senile aliquid sic 
senem in quo est adolescentis aliquid probo." Let the impa- 
tient student, before the college degrees are conferred, and he 
is emancipated from the restraints of discipline, pause for a 
moment and ask himself what part does he purpose to perform- 
in the world. Is he content to become one of the vile herd 
that wallow in the mire of sensuality? Has he no higher hope 
than to vegetate in inglorious sloth ? Has he no more noble 
ambition than to increase his store of this world's goods? If,_ 
in spite of all the efforts which have been here exerted to give 
a better and a loftier aim to his aspirations, these and such as 
these be his humble purposes, he needs neither exhortation nor 
counsel. The beaten downward path is easy, and, by the gra- 
vitation, of his nature, descent will be every day accelerated. 
But if he proposes to himself the happiness of a rational crea- 
ture, the improvement of his intellectual and moral nature, the 
rendering of good to his fellow men, and securing the approba- 



11 

lion of that mighty and gracious Being who fashioned his 
frame, whose steward he is, and to whom he must one day ac- 
count for the talents committed to his keeping — if these be his 
wise, and good, and noble purposes, then indeed it may be be- 
neficial, as it is delightful, to communicate every suggestion 
and contribute every aid which may advance him on his jour- 
ney; then may we say to him in the fulness of our hearts., God 
speed thee! 

" Proceed, illustrious youth, 
And virtue guide thee to the throne of truth P' 

It has "been quaintly remarked, that the world consists of 
three descriptions of men ; the fortunate, who learn from the 
experience of others ; the wise, who learn by their own expe- 
rience; and fools, who learn neither from their own experience 
nor from that of others. Perhaps the discrimination is some- 
what fanciful, as no one was ever so happy as to acquire wis- 
dom without some instruction in the school of experience ; and 
few have ever studied in that school to advantage who disre- 
garded the monitions of those who had gone before them. 
What, indeed, are these counsels but anticipated experience, 
results collected by others from their own trials in life, and 
handed down to their successors as a stock or capital upon 
which to commence their adventure. One of the first trials 
to which your firmness will be subjected, is the disposal of your 
own time and the selection of your own amusements, and it is 
of high importance that you should sustain this trial courage- 
ously, decide wisely, and act up to your decision. Without -a 
fixed scheme of employment and set hours for your pursuits, 
the idle and voluptuous will engross you and your time to 
themselves. Gregarious from necessity, importunate and sel- 
fish, they seek constantly to allure others to join them in the 
ohase of pleasure, the frivolities of vanity, and " strenuous 
idleness." It cannot be expected that you should wholly ab- 
stract yourselves from those amusements which belong to the 
spring-time of life ; but it is irrational and unmanly to aban- 
don yourselves to them without stint or restraint. I speak not 
now of those pleasures which are in themselves criminal, but 
of those only which are reprehensible when carried beyond 
the bounds of moderation. As to the former, there is out one 
rule — taste not, touch not, handle not ; and with regard to the 
latter, surely those are rather brutes than men who find baits 
and snares in the innocent provisions of life, and permit them- 
selves to be allured by their appetites to their own destruction. 
It is a fixed law of nature, the wisdom of which we cannot 



12 

perhaps fully comprehend, but which, like every other rule 
proceeding from the great Author of nature, must be right, 
that no important benefit is to be acquired but by the exercise 
of self-denial; that inferior and present gratification must be 
sacrificed for the sake of future and greater good. Nor deem 
these terms of happiness hard. Like the delightful sense of 
health and vigour which follows on robust exercise, there is 
annexed to moral courage a high intellectual enjoyment; and 
whatever may be the result of all other undertakings, in which 
it is not given to " mortals to command success," virtuous ex- 
ertion never fails to bring with it more or less of reward. 
Much, very much will depend on your first step. In this, as 
in most other of human actions, it is not only the first siep 
which costs — but it is thft first step which usually determines 
the result. 

You will not, I trust, imagine for a moment, that when 
you have bid adieu to the college you have completed your 
education. The whole of life should be regarded as a school, 
a place of instruction and discipline, in which the faculties are 
to be developed, cultivated and perfected, and the pupil gra- 
dually trained for higher and more important exercises, until 
he is ultimately qualified to enter upon a new state of exist- 
ence. It is a distinguishing characteristic of man, as an 
intellectual being, that his capacity for improvement has no 
definite limits; but to avail himself of this prerogative, he 
should secure well every step taken in this upward career, 
and make it a foothold, from which to spring to a higher ele- 
vation. In intellectual, as in all other conquests, there is but 
One sure maxim, preserve what you have gained, and use it 
as the means of further acquisition. In these intellectual 
conquests there is, however, an animating consideration, well 
Calculated to inspire determined constancy. Every step in 
advance is a longer and bolder stride than that by which it 
was preceded. Every new acquisition combines in so many 
relations with those of the old stock, that progression goes on, 
not by simple addition, but in geometrical order. Waste not 
your time in balancing between the professions or occupations 
to which you shall apply yourselves, but choose speedily, so 
as to be able to bring into action the habits of diligence here 
formed, before they are broken up by irregular and desultory 
pusuits. When the selection is made, of course the know- 
1 :dge appropriate to the profession or occupation chosen, 
should be the object steadily kept in view in all your exertions. 
But fall not into the common error of giving over all attention 
to former studies and all care of former attainments. It is 



13 

almost the universal course, as soon as the academical walls 
are left behind, to abandon altogether those scientific and 
literary pursuits which were there earnestly prosecuted. In 
no country does this error more obtain than in ours. From 
the general activity that prevails around us, and which natu- 
rally characterizes a people, among whom wealth, honours 
and rank are accessible to every individual, and where a 
boundless field of enterprise presents itself on every side, the 
boy and the boy's friends are anxious that he should be push- 
ing his fortune in the world. There is a feverish impatience 
to be a doing, a - cacoetlies insanabile agendi." Thus the 
period of scholastic education is injuriously abridged, instruc- 
tion is at best very imperfect, and college acquirements are 
emphatically the merest rudiments of science. This superficial 
course has a tendency to sweli the young collegian with that 
self-conceit, which hides from him the necessity of further 
study, while it renders more imperative the obligation of fixing 
and re-impressing the little he has actually learned — these 
evanescent acquisitions which, with every care, are but too 
apt to escape from us. Unless, like the pious and fanciful 
enthusiast in Old Mortality, you occasionally deepen the letters 
of the inscription, they will soon be overgrown with moss and 
lichen, wear away by exposure, and leave not a trace behind 
of what was designed to be engraved for a perpetual remem- 
brance. A moderate portion of diligence, habitually exerted 
in the revision of youthful studies, will be sufficient to preserve 
them entire, but without it, their loss is in a great measure 
inevitable. True, indeed, the habits of attention and compa- 
rison formed by these studies may yet remain, and these are 
of inestimable value. But these acquisitions are in themselves 
valuable. They form the nucleus around which subsequent 
acquirements can best dispose themselves. As the friendships 
contracted in youth, "when kept alive by the interchange of 
kind offices, surpass in tenderness and constancy all which 
can be formed at a subsequent period; so these early mental 
treasures, habitually cherished, are more closely entwined 
with our modes of thinking and with our affections — become 
more thoroughly oi/rs, than any that can be acquired in ad- 
vanced life. Old wine has been pronounced the cordial of 
a°;e ; but old friends, and old studies, affections and literary 
pleasures, mellowed and matured by time, infinitely better 
deserve the title. They warm the heart and exhilarate the 
spirits without the danger of intoxicating the brain. Surely, 
then, it is culpable folly to throw either away. 

The dispositions and habits of social beings are more or 



14 

less modified by those of the companions with whom they 
associate. The standard of morality, like that of taste and 
refinement, is elevated or depressed according to the tone of 
morals which prevails around us. Few things will more 
startle the pure and high-minded youth upon his entrance into 
the world, than the extravagant estimate which seems to be 
there placed on objects which he has been taught to regard as 
not of the highest value. He must not indeed be in too great 
haste to pronounce on public sentiment by the language which 
he first hears in the bustling and frivolous circles of society. 
Convenience requires that the topics of promiscuous conversa- 
tion should be brought down to the level of the humblest 
capacity among the votaries of fashion. The most inane 
coxcomb can talk fluently about prodigious fortunes, splendid 
equipages, and brilliant parties ; but wealth and display are 
not therefore to be deemed the first objects of excellence even 
to an admiring world. It is not to be denied, however, that 
these are valued far beyond their intrinsic worth. We feel 
indignant at the sneers and exaggerations of insolent travel- 
lers, who represent us as idolatrous worshippers at the shrine 
of Plutus, and apportioning our respect to every individual in 
the exact ratio of his reputed possessions. Nor are we indig- 
nant without cause; for, as in all other sneers and exaggera- 
tions, truth is sacrificed to sarcasm, and candour to the ambi- 
tion of effect. But as it has been recommended by one of the 
best of critics, " get your enemies to read your works in order 
that you may mend them, for your friend is so much your 
second self that he will judge too like you," it is well for us to 
resort to malevolence for the knowledge of our defects. It is 
not strange that we should sin in this respect. The innume- 
rable opportunities offered in a new and growing country for 
bold enterprise and successful acquisition, the general exemp- 
tion of property from restraints upon alienation, the abolition 
of all hereditary distinctions, and the equal partition of estates 
among relatives in equal degree to the deceased owner, bring 
.about a rapid circulation, and of course a. rapid accumulation 
and dispersion of wealth ; which render it an object of more 
■general pursuit, and bestow upon its possessor a distinction 
the more remarkable because not eclipsed by other extrinsic 
distinctions. Confined within the bounds of reason, the desire 
of acquisition is an useful principle of action. It incites to 
industry, admonishes frugality and temperance, represses the 
spirit of servility and dependance, leads to the improvement 
of the country, and accelerates its advancement in the useful 
•arts. But when the lust of gain becomes inordinate and uni- 



versa], it is a deadly foe to intellectual cultivation and refine- 
ment, to individual honesty and benevolence, to public virtue 
and public freedom. Intellectual pre-eminence is not to b 
acquired but by long-enduring labours, and few will be found' 
to encounter such toil, unless the public voice accord to the 
successful student the meed of high distinction. But where* 
wealth alone is recognised as the title to superiority, learnings 
however profound ; taste, however cultivated; literature, how- 
ever polished ; or the arts, however elegant, command no 
respect, if found in what are too frequently and most unjustly 
called the humble walks oflife. Poverty is regarded not as 
a misfortune but as a disgrace,- Ostentatious and extensive 
display is indulged as evidencing claims to the distinctions 
which belong to the honoured rich. The envious are excited 
to resentment, and the silly to imitation. How many happy 
families have drained the cup of misery to the dregs, because 
they would fain ape the dress, the equipage, and the style of 
the arrogant rich, and cheat the world into a belief of their 
wealth ! How many fathers have had their hearts wrung 
with agony, and their heads bowed down in shame to the 
earth, because of the guilty deeds of their sons, whom extra- 
vagance reduced to want, want tempted to profligacy, and 
profligacy led on to infamous crime ! And what are his en- 
joyments, what his merits, who has no other object than to 
hoard or display his riches? His pursuits have in them no 
mixture whatever of the social affections. They habitually- 
present his interest as in opposition to the interest of others, 
and increase, to an inordinate degree, that self-love which it 
is always so difficult to restrain within the bounds of reason.. 
lie loses all relish for intellectual and moral pleasures, is sordid 
in his views, and coarse and sensual in his gratifications. Bui 
the contagion spreads; wealth accumulated, or wealth squan- 
dered, becomes the theme of vulgar admiration, and the hun- 
ger of gold prevails as an epidemic. The dearest ties of 
family affection are sundered without remorse, if a distant 
land present a prospect of more rapid accumulation; the holiest 
bonds of human union, founded in "reason loyal just and 
pure/' and consecrated by God himself as the best security of 
virtue and pledge of happiness, are degraded into a joyless, 
mercenary bargain ; the slow and moderate profits of ex- 
changes mutually beneficial, are abandoned for wild and? 
wicked speculation, in which the winner loses at least his-, 
honesty, and the unsuccessful gambler loses all. It is a lust; 
denounced of heaven, and to disregard the denunciation is. 



16 

impiety ; " He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be inno- 
cent" 

Let me not be understood as speaking contemptuously of 
those excellent men, who, having succeeded by inheritance to 
what has 'been preserved by the prudence of their ancestors, 
or having by their own honest toil, frugality, and good sense, 
acquired more than an ordinary portion of this world's goods, 
enjoy it temperately and expend it wisely. Neither swoln 
with pride, nor hardened by avarice, nor corrupted into sen- 
suality; they excite no envy by arrogant ostentation, grind not 
the poor by oppression, offend not delicacy by voluptuousness, 
nor demoralize the community by bad example. The wealth 
of such men is a blessing to their country. What might other- 
wise evaporate and be lost, being thus placed in masses, is pre- 
served to fertilize by proper application the sterile places in 
their neighbourhood. Still less would I be thought to have 
for one moment any participation in that wicked spirit which 
seeks to set the poor against the rich, and the rich against the 
poor, and to render them the objects of jealousy and hatred to 
each other. Peace and good will to men on earth was pro- 
claimed at the birth of the Redeemer as a blessing second 
only to Glory to God in the highest. He, on whose coming 
this joyful communication was made, sought to bind all ranks 
and all conditions by the bond of common love and mutual 
kindness. He taught the rich to make unto themselves friends 
of the mammon of unrighteousness, and promised that no 
deed of charity done in his name should be forgotten in the 
great day of settlement. He instructed the poor to do violence 
to no man, neither 10 accuse any man falsely, and to be content 
with their wages. He abused the pride of the great, and bade 
them to be like him, meek and lowly of heart; while he up- 
held the hopes of the dejected by the assurance, " blessed are 
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." The man who 
would excite hostile feelings between the different classes of 
society, all members of the same common family, bound to aid, 
cherish and love each other, commits treason against social 
happiness, and does what in him lies to frustrate the message 
of divine beneficence. Such enmity, wicked every where, in 
our country is inconceivably absurd. Property here shifts 
from hand to hand with such marvellous rapidity, that the 
classification can scarcely be drawn before it changes. Those 
who join in the fight of to-day, find themselves arrayed to- 
morrow side by side, and shoulder to shoulder, with their ene- 
my. No, let me not be mistaken. It is not against the rich, 



17 

bat against the lust of riches ; it is not against getting rich, but 
the hastening to get rich, that my denunciations are directed, 
as against a spirit fatal to the best interests of every class of 
society. If personal integrity and benevolence, as we are as- 
sured by inspiration, fall victims to this wicked passion, how- 
can we hope that public virtue, or a fervent and generous zeal 
for the public good, can resist its blasting influence ? If all 
history be not false, if there be any philosophy teaching by 
example, collected by faithful observation of the past, and re- 
corded for the instruction of the future, this truth is certain, 
that the general and eager pursuit of riches must bring on the 
downfall of republican liberty. The excessive selfishness, and 
the laxity of moral principles which it inevitably induces, 
while they withdraw from the concerns of the commonwealth 
the affections and attention of the great body of the citizens, 
will leave them to the management of intriguing, caballing 
and mercenary politicians; at ouce rapacious and vain, cun- 
ning and base, and pursuing wicked ends by worse means. 
When these signs shall appear, the social edifice must soon 
totter to its ruin, and we shall need ; - no messenger of light nor 
warning from the dead to announce its fall." Public virtue is 
the only solid basis which can uphold the glorious structure of 
public freedom: and public virtue is not to be found when the 
quarry of personal integrity has been worked off and ex- 
hausted. 

So far, then, as depends on you, arrest the spread of this 
moral pestilence. Bow not your knees to Baal. Show that 
you do not make a god of wicked pelf, and regard not riches 
as the summum bonum of human desire. If you have a com- 
petency, be prudent not to squander it ; if you have it not, be 
industrious to acquire it ; that you may be kept above the dan- 
ger of want and secured in that independence, without which 
it is difficult to preserve freedom of thought or action. But 
all beyond this is comparatively of little moment, ' : tasteless 
when had, and terrible when gone.*' See who are the greatly 
rich: with but few exceptions, they were not lono- since the 
greatly poor. And what has become of the children, of those,, 
nay. of very many of the persons themselveSj who, but a few 
years ago, were rolling and rioting in superabundant wealth f 
Where are they now? Fallen from their vain eminence, un^ 
qualified for useful labour, humbled in their own estimation,, 
dissatisfied with their condition, and querulous against the 
world and the world's law. Should you amass wealth, is it 
not too dearly purchased at the price of innocence, social af- 
fection, intellectual improvement, refinement and elegance? 



IS 

If acquired at part only of this cost ought it to be very highly 
prized when it is morally certain that it is to enrich others, and 
not for those for whom you have so painfully amassed it? 

We have all of us read with a throb of exultation the ac- 
counts transmitted to us of the marvellous effects produced in 
the ancient democracies by popular eloquence. It would seem 
that their orators exercised a dominion over the public mind 
so vastly superior to all which is now witnessed, that we are 
lost in admiration of their almost superhuman powers. Un- 
questionably, they were among the master spirits of their age.. 
But it is to be recollected, that they flourished in small states,. 
where the whole people assembled to act together on occasions 
of great and common interest; when the speakers perfectly 
knew all their habitual modes of thinking, their common affec- 
tions, antipathies, jealousies and prejudices, and by unremit- 
ting exertions had learned to sweep with a bold and skilful 
hand all those chords of human excitement. A common emo- 
tion once kindled, it became fierce from sympathy, burst forth 
into passion, and rushed forward at once to the accomplish- 
ment of its object. It is fortnnate for the repose of society that 
such opportunities are not now possessed by those who would 
direct the public will, and who would unquestionably be 
tempted, like the demagogues of old, to abuse their power to- 
the gratification of sinister and selfish purposes. Orators now 
address not the assembled people, but magistrates and repre- 
sentatives selected from the people, responsible to the people, 
acting under the restraints of limited and delegated authority,, 
deliberating under established rules, and according to dilatory 
forms of proceeding. Something, however, like an approach, 
to the sway of the ancient orators is witnessed with us in the 
operations of the periodical press. The general distributioa 
of this fugitive literature, and the rapid and universal inter- 
communication by the mails, enable the conductors of the 
press to address nearly at the same moment ail their readers, 
however widely dispersed. Accordingly,, the parties of every 
kind, which, from time to time, have convulsed our country 
by their struggles for superiority, have seized on the press as 
the great instrument for propagating their opinions among the 
people, for attracting to themselves popular favour, and over- 
whelming their adversaries with popular hatred. None can 
be so blind as not to perceive the immense influence for good 
and for evil which this intellectual engine exerts over the pub-) 
lie mind and the public passions, although it is not given to 
the most sagacious to foresee what will be the ultimate result 
of this, its vigorous and general employment. So mighty are 
the benefits which it is obviously calculated to produce, and 



19 

yet so numerous and tremendous the evils which it can un- 
questionably effect, that all who love their country, and espe- 
cially all whose education, taste and occupations connect them 
with its literature, should strenuously exert themselves to per- 
petuate its blessings, to discountenance its excesses, and to 
guard against its abuses. 

Civilized nations, by a perfectly understood, though tacit 
compact, have established rules by which their hostilities are 
"regulated, and of which no extremity will permit the violation 
without incurring universal infamy. It is time that the lite- 
rary struggles of contending factions should also have their 
fixed rules of war ; " Non fraude, neque occultis, sed palam 
et armatum Popuhmi Romanum hostes suos idcisci" not by 
fraud, not by secret machinations, but openly and armed, the 
Roman people avenges itself on its foes ; was the answer of the 
senate of Rome to the proposition of the king of the Catti to 
take off Arminius by poison. Assassination, the poisoning of 
weapons and of waters, are regarded by every civilized people 
as utterly detestable and inadmissible in war. It is too much 
to hope that the managers of factious warfare can ever be 
brought to confine themselves to fair arguments addressed 
solely to the understandings of their hearers. Nay, it is, per- 
Tiaps, not to be wished that they should wholly forbear from 
those appeals to the feelings and passions of human nature, 
which often quicken the judgment in its operations, and with- 
out which, few will take an interest in discussions of a general 
-character. But detraction is intimately allied in baseness and 
cruelty to assassination. It inllicteth deadly wounds on one 
who cannot defend himself on equal terms. He who hesitates 
not by falsehood — either known to be falsehood, or recklessly 
taken up without care whether it be false or true — to destroy 
'the fair fame of an adversary, wants but little of the guilt of 
'him who would stab an enemy in the dark. Personal abuse 
is a poisoned weapon. Where the blow is not in itself severe, 
the venom may yet rankle and corrode. It is a weapon, too, 
which equalises the true man and the false, the courageous 
and the coward, and requires for its use neither vigour of in- 
tellect nor manliness of purpose. In truth, the basest, the 
feeblest in temper, and the weakest in argument, are usually 
the most disposed and the best qualified to resort to it. While 
it disgraces those by whom it is employed, it grievously annoys 
those against whom it is directed ; and all engaged in the con- 
test whether victors or vanquished, come forth from it diseased, 
spotted, maimed and infected. 

It is always difficult to conduct an earnest controversy 



20 

without committing injustice. In the most sincere, the ambi- 
tion of victory usually impairs the love of truth, and warps 
the judgment. Even in the benevolent, opposition to confident 
opinion is apt to kindle wrath, and to draw upon the opposer 
that hostility which should be directed against his errors. 
Who is there that ever engaged in such contests that did not 
complain that his motives or his actions were misrepresented 
and traduced ? The experience of such injustice should ren- 
der him slow to charge his adversaries with wicked acts or 
wicked designs, as he cannot but know that he is equally liable 
to commit rash mistakes. In proportion, as the temptations to 
this injustice are strong, the victory over them is noble and 
useful. It has been said of Charles Fox, that few circum- 
stances contributed more to his exalted fame as a public de- 
bater, than the perfect fairness with which he always stated 
the arguments of his opponent. Such frankness impressed 
every one with a conviction of his sincerity, evinced his calm, 
collected, undoubting confidence in the cause of truth, r.nd 
bespoke for him the most favorable attention of his hearers. 
Would that it were possible to inspire all our disputants, who 
carry on the wordy war in the daily, weekly and monthly 
sheets, political, literary and theological, that fly around us, 
with a practical sense of the advantages that result from can- 
dour, temperance and fair dealing ! But too many of them 
are so intent on detecting the blemishes in the character and 
conduct of those who dissent from them, that they have neither 
leisure to consider, nor thought to bestow on their own moral 
improvement. They wholly invert the maxim of benevolence 
and wisdom. They do not regard perfection as the rule by 
which to regulate their own conduct, but hold it up as the 
standard by which to censure the acts of others. They con- 
sider themselves as making ample atonement for their own 
violations of justice, truth and charity, by the keenness of 
their invectives and boldness of their denunciations against 
every opponent, whom zeal, prejudice or resentment converts 
into a transgressor. Would that they could be prevailed on 
to take for their guide the counsel of Coleridge — himself 
among the most earnest and dogmatical of public writers — 
•" Show intolerance to erroneous principles and opinions, be- 
cause they are repugnant to truth and virtue ; but be tolerant 
to men; be tolerant of motives; for no one knows but that he 
may have mistaken positive opinion for certainty and clear 
insight. Conscientiously tolerate each other's intolerance." 
Or would rather, if I might dare to apply the solemn injunction 
of the apostle on the subject of eternal moment to one of merely 



21 

temporal interest, (and why may I not, when its application 
concerns the highest moral good of man?) would that they 
would act np to the emphatic command, " watch ye. stand 
fast in the faith ; quit yon like men," but " let all your things 
be done with charity P 

Few functions are in their nature more honourable, or are 
directed to objects of higher importance, few should inspire 
more self-respect, or demand a deeper reverence for truth, and 
a more circumspect caution not to confound earnestness of 
purpose with insolence of manner, than those which belong 
to the intellectual combatants, who discuss before a free people 
the mighty matters which appertain to their weal. They may 
rely upon it, that whatever opprobrium they may throw 
on their adversaries, not a little of it will attach to the entire 
class ; and the community will lose its respect for a profession, 
the members of which are found to bandy vulgar abuse and 
to deal in foul recrimination. The worst that any of them 
may say of the others will be readily believed of the whole. 
They should take a monitory lesson from the members of that 
learned profession which conducts the warfare of civil contro- 
versy before the tribunals of justice. These have long since 
discovered the necessity of courtesy and deference, and take 
care in the very heat and fury of the contentions which they 
habitually wage with each other, not to lose sight of that 
dignity which belongs to them as the professed advocates of 
right. Whenever this course is abandoned, as perhaps it 
sometimes is with the inferior retainers of the bar, the profes- 
sion itself sinks in public estimation, and its members no 
longer regard each other, nor are regarded by the world, as 
meriting the title of gentlemen. 

While an enlightened sense of self-interest, and a proper 
consciousness of their own dignity, should recommend these 
views to the conductors of the periodical press, motives of 
infinitely greater weight, and far more general concern, should 
urge them on those by whose patronage that press is upheld. 
The character of our nation is deeply involved in the charac- 
ter of its public men. Let the correctness of their views, the 
soundness of their opinions, the wisdom of their plans, and the 
solidity of their arguments be subjected to the severest tests of 
criticism. When they are brought forward as candidates for 
the public service, let their acts and their qualifications be 
fully, frankly, yet temperately discussed. All this is necessary 
for the ascertainment of truth, in matters wherein the commu- 
nity is concerned ; and of this none have a right to com- 
plain, and none will complain, but those who, when tried in. 



22 

the balance, are found wanting. But for the honour of our 
country, in the name of justice and decency, let them not be 
assailed by vile slang or the attribution of corrupt purposes. 
What will be thought abroad of us and of our institutions, if 
these distinguished men, who are there known only as the 
leaders in our councils, are indiscriminately held forth to 
public scorn as "knaves that plot, or fools that fawn for 
power?" Fame is the high reward for which the giants in 
our land contend ; and those who are best qualified to attain, 
and the most solicitous to deserve it, our ablest, our purest, 
and our best, are not un frequently the most sensitive to un- 
merited reproach. Unquestionably there are men who, unter- 
rified by the "mendax infamia" of the press, will pursue the 
tenor of their prescribed path with unshaken constancy. But 
the firmest are yet frail beings ; and many, who feel the stings 
of detraction far more- keenly than they admit, are either 
insensibly checked in their course, or tempted to abandon the 
public service in disgust. If obloquy, detraction and slander 
are to be the sure allotment of whoever distinguishes himself 
in a public career, and becomes obnoxious to those whom he 
eclipses or defeats, all but the rugged and insensible must 
sooner or later be interdicted from the course. The injury 
which the public may sustain from this ostracism of genius, 
virtue and sensibility, it would be difficult for any political 
economist to calculate. But this is not all. The most har- 
dened in crime are usually the least accessible to reproach. 
The indiscriminate abuse by party prints of all who stand in 
the way of their factious purposes, will render it impossible for 
the community to judge when it is bestowed with or without 
cause. The censure of the press will bring no terror to evil 
doers, because they share it in common with all who act a 
part sufficiently distinguished to attract public notice. Public 
opinion, so far as it may be influenced by such censure, ceases 
to come in aid of the admonitions of conscience, and one great 
security for public virtue will be effectually taken away. Not 
propriety of conduct, nor purity of motive, but unfeeling impu- 
dence, a thick skin and a marble countenance, will be the 
best protection against public indignation. The dignity of 
the press must sink. Gentlemanly feeling, candour, truth and 
decency no longer characterizing its conductors, it will fall 
into the hands of those who can best excel in malignant sar- 
casm, calumnious insinuation, audacious falsehood, and bitter 
invective. Its usefulness will be gone. Instead of the me- 
dium of truth, it will be converted into the instrument of men- 
dacity and defamation. 



23 

That these dreaded mischiefs may happen in all their fulness 
of evil is at least possible. It cannot be denied that they now 
exist to a most injurious extent, and they threaten every day 
to spread wider and operate more destructively. The law 
does not, and perhaps cannot afford against them adequate 
security or redress. Possibly, in the system of compensation 
which seems to characterize all here below, they are an una- 
voidable tax upon freedom. But if it be so, much may yet be 
done to mitigate and allay what cannot be thoroughly cured 
or entirely destroyed. Enlightened public opinion is, next to 
religion, the great conservator of virtue and propriety. Let all 
who have studied those ingenuous arts, which soften manners 
and permit not men to remain ferocious ; let all who love their 
country and their country's cause, discountenance what they 
cannot but abhor. Let them require that the public journals 
should be conducted by men who respect themselves, and 
whom the world respects ; and then we may hope to render 
comparatively harmless that virus which is likely to poison 
the fountains of intelligence. There is no party in our country,, 
political, sectional or religious, which cannot find able, edu- 
cated, honourable and decent editors and contributors, to 
maintain with zeal and spirit, its peculiar views. Let none 
others be permitted to lay hands on the ark of their cause. 
Let it be understood that none others are fit to be employed as 
the champions of truth. Then indecency will be considered 
as the avowal of an intent to commit falsehood, and then even 
blackguards by nature will be compelled to assume the man- 
ners of gentlemen, and pay to virtue at least the homage of 
their hypocrisy. 

There is another subject to which, on this occasion, your 
attention may properly be invited. The spirit of freedom is a 
powerful principle, prompting to boldness of thought and 
action, connected with an excitable temperament, and seeking 
for sympathy and co-operation from kindred minds. If it 
wanted these properties, it would be inadequate to the per- 
formance of the great duties which it is required to discharge,, 
and unfit to meet the hardy trials which it is doomed to en- 
counter. But like that unseen agent which is daily operating 
such marvels amongst us, which drives the mighty steamer 
through the waters, and sends the fiery car careering over the. 
land, it must be effectually secured and skilfully regulated, or 
its explosions will spread havoc around. To retain it safe,, 
yet active ; to impose upon it all needful, but no unnecessary 
restraint ; to direct it wisely, virtuously and happily, has been 
among the highest objects of human study, and in all ages has 



24 

given employment to the most capacious intellect and the most 
experienced sagacity. Next to that truth which cometh down 
from heaven, does it most concern the welfare of man to he 
right upon this subject. It is a trite observation, but not on 
that account less correct, that the greatest of blessings become 
the worst of curses when they are perverted and abused. 
Without freedom, man is a poor, miserable, abject thing, the 
sport and victim of his fellow man's rage, caprice and cruelty, 
having neither vigour of thought, motive for exertion, nor 
rational hope to gratify. But there can be no freedom without 
law. Unrestrained liberty is anarchy ; domination in the 
strong ; slavery in the weak ; outrage and plunder in the 
combined oppressors; helpless misery in the oppressed; inse- 
curity, suspicion, distrust, and fear to all. Law is the guardian 
of freedom. To borrow the thoughts, and, as far as possible, 
the words of the orator of Athens, "Law seeks for that which 
is just, good and useful, and when it is found, proclaims it as 
an ordinance equal and alike to all. To law all should submit, 
for it is of divine institution, the enactment of wise men, the 
corrective of wrongs, and the common compact of the state, 
according to which every citizen is bound to live." There is 
high sublimity in the conception of moral and intelligent 
beings acknowledging no superior upon earth, yet conscious 
of their own infirmities, follies and distracting passions ; re- 
solved to submit to no wrong, and anxious to do wrong to 
none; embodying themselves into a state, and yielding alle- 
giance to that state's collected will; obeying no man as man, 
but yielding prompt and loyal obedience to every ordinance 
that may be decreed according to those prescribed forms 
which ensure the happiness of all, and which are equal, uni- 
form and universal in their application to all. Such is the 
glorious spectacle exhibit! d in our land, and long may it be 
presented to the hope and wonder of an admiring world ! 
May He who watches over nations, and who is mindful of 
the sons of men, preserve to us, and to our children, and to 
our children's children, these blessed institutions ! But we 
must not content ourselves with idle wishes. Blessings are 
not granted simply for man's enjoyment, or even for man's 
gratitude ; they are bestowed also, and principally, as motives 
to virtuous exertion, objects of his care, and pledges for his 
vigilance, courage, prudence and activity. History is full of 
instances — alas! it records but little else — of free states built 
up by wisdom and virtue, undermined and overturned by 
folly and vice. Deprecating from the bottom of my soul this 
fate for my country, I would fain warn my countrymen with 



25 

an earnest tone against the evil auguries which seem to threat- 
en her free existence. It may be, that as even the ordinary 
voice of the surf awakens, in those unused to its deep and so- 
lemn roar, terrors at which the hardy seaman smiles; it may 
be that he who, remote from public bustle, hears in his retire- 
ment the distant report of the outburstings of popular violence, 
may distress himself with imaginary and unfounded alarms. 
But when, from one end to the other of this extended confede- 
racy, we behold lawless associations asserting the prerogative of 
vindictive justice, legislating for what they fancy to be crimes; 
adjudicating on those whom they suppose guilty, and by such 
rules of evidence as best suits their rage; and executing sen- 
tences of devastation, torture and death, with appalling rapidi- 
ty; there is, there must be, cause of dread that a spirit is rife 
in the land which must be put down, or our fathers have bled 
and toiled in vain, and all that has been won by their valour or 
treasured by their wisdom — all is lost. 

It would seem as though the first principles of constitutional 
liberty were becoming obsolete. The law here demands our 
obedience, because we have pledged ourselves to obey it, and 
a breach of this engagement is perfidy. Rebellion against the 
law, against the expressed voice of the commonwealth, of the 
regularly declared will of the embodied people, the only re- 
cognised sovereign, is " crimen laesae majestatis," is in the 
nature of treason. The law deserves our obedience, for that 
alone can reconcile the jarring interests of all, secure each 
against the rashness or malignity of others, and blend into one 
harmonious union the discordant materials of which society 
is composed. The law throws its broad shield over the rights 
and the interests of the humblest, the proudest, the poorest, 
and the wealthiest in the land. It fences around what every 
individual has already gained, and it ensures to him the enjoy- 
ment of whatever his industry may acquire. It saves the 
merchant against ruinous hazards, provides security for the 
wages of the mechanic and the labourer, and enables the hus- 
bandman to reap his harvests without fear of plunder. The 
sanctity of the marriage tie, the purity of virgin modesty, the 
leisure of the student, the repose of the aged, the enterprise of 
the active, the support of indigence, and the decencies of di- 
vine worship, are all under its guardian care. It makes every 
man's house his castle, and keeps watch and ward over his 
life, his name, his family, and his property. It travels with 
him by land and by sea ; watches while he sleeps ; and arrays, 
in the defence of him and of his, the physicial strength of the 

4 



Z6 

entire state. Surely, then, it is worthy of our reverence, our 
gratitude, and our love. Surely obedience to its mandates is 
among the highest of our duties. Surely its service is not in- 
compatible with perfect freedom. 

Let us consider for a moment the sophisms by which revolts 
against law are sought to be justified. It is said that these are evils 
which the law cannot cure, or which it cannot cure in time, 
and that in these recourse may be had to irregular popular 
movements. A very brief examination will enable us to de- 
cide upon the validity of this plea. It assumes that every evil 
in the state, may be cured, ought to be cured without delay, 
and that the cure, when not otherwise to be had, may be safely 
obtained from lawless violence. Every part of this assump- 
tion is contrary to fact, and revolting to good sense. All hu- 
man things and human institutions are necessarily imperfecta 
Where is the man,, however wise or virtuous, that finds not in 
himself much that is wrong, and which, with all his efforts, 
he is unable wholly to correct? Where is the family in which 
no irregularities occur, but such as are instantly suppressed by 
parental discipline? Even there, where mingled love and 
reverence invest the patriarchal superior with almost absolute 
power ; where his first wish is their good, and their greatest 
delight his approbation — even there, much that is not exactly 
right is wisely overlooked, and much that is inconvenient, pa- 
tiently borne. When men unite into states, men of all sorts,, 
dispositions, pursuits and habits, it cannot but be that irregu- 
larities must, be vastly increased, and as these multiply, occa- 
sional impunity must become more frequent. It is of the na- 
ture of humanity. Who seeks a perfect state, seeks what 
" ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be." Let the perfect man 
throw the first stone against the imperfect state. But were 
this part of the sophism less absurd, nothing can be more pre- 
posterous than the rest ; that the remedy for these social imper- 
fections is to be found in tumultuary violence. Those evils 
which cannot be redressed by application of the means, which 
the collected wisdom of the community, borrowing from the 
stores of ancient wisdom, as well as from its own experience and 
sagacity, has been able to devise, are to be cured — by 
whose interference? By that of the people? But who 
in fact are here intended by the people ? The most passionate, 
fierce, vindictive, rash, and uninformed portion of that people, 
acting upon the impulse of sudden excitement, banded under 
furious leaders, sometimes unknown, often irresponsible, and 
generally actuated by a spirit of personal malice, swoln into 



vf 

formidable strength by the accession of ail who love mischiei 
and riot in crime, and hurried into deeds of atrocity, which not 
one in ten contemplated or intended, when he first engaged in 
the scheme of violence. This is the appellate, this the revising 
tribunal, for whose wisdom, and caution, and experience, and 
impartiality, are to be reserved those difficult and delicate cases, 
which the ordinary provisions of the law cannot reach, or 
which its regular administrators are incompetent to manage ! 
Yes; we have had proofs sufficiently cogent to leave us without 
doubt of the fitne?s of this high justiciary, the mob, to execute 
j-ustice in mercy, to cure the law's delays, and to supply the 
law's omissions. "We have seen it in hostile bands of citizens 
arrayed against each other with murderous weapons, when 
exercising the duty of suffrage. We have seen it in innocent 
females driven forth from their dwellings by ferocious incendi- 
aries. We have witnessed it in a city surrendered for days 
and nights to outrage and arson ; in helpless people of colour 
hunted from their dwellings like beasts of prey from their ca- 
verns ; and in mock-courts murdering in the face of day, and 
asking for the commendation of a virtuous people upon their 
lawless deeds ! The time is approaching, the time is come, 
when the question must be decided, whether we shall live un- 
der that law which has protected our fathers since they came 
from the other side of the flood in the olden time, and which 
has hitherto preserved us in all the way wherein we went, or yield 
our necks to the yoke of misrule. Choose ye then whom ye 
will serve, yourselves or a mob ; a government of law or a go- 
vernment of force. As every act of rebellion against the supre- 
macy of conscience weakens its power until the whole man 
becomes the slave of wickedness, so every instance of success- 
ful revolt against the state's collected will, impairs its beneficent 
sway, until finally the state itself sinks into political servitude. 
Necessity will drive men into factious combinations, when the 
will and power of the whole, when the law no longer protects 
them. Contending factions will make war upon each other, at 
first perhaps under some plausible pretext of strife, because of 
some political, religious or sectional difference, and with some 
semblance of regard to the ancient forms of the constitution ; 
but ultimately and avowedly, ad inter neciGiieni for power and 
for plunder. From such evils, despotism itself is a refuge. 
The unlimited rule of one master is more tolerable than the 
unsparing domination of many and everchanging sovereigns. 
The history of the world can scarcely be opened without meet- 
ing with the annals of the decline and fall of freedom. The 



28 

summary is short. Liberty becomes licentious, and bursts the 
bounds of law. Factions rage and war against each other. 
The war of factions is succeeded by a confiscating and sangui- 
nary anarchy. Anarchy is superseded by tyranny. 

God forbid that I should believe that this is fated to be our 
lcit ! No ; I do trust that there is a redeeming spirit of virtue 
and wisdom in our land that will save us from this hideous 
ruin, and save our name and our institutions from this ioul 
disgrace. Though the people's violence is never to be to- 
lerated, the intelligence of the people may always be right- 
fully invoked. Public opinion is unquestionably on the side 
of law and order, but public opinion should come forth with 
an imposing majesty, and in a decided tone. Let us proclaim, 
as with the voice of one man : This land is free, and free it 
shall remain. No freeman shall be here outlawed, or exiled, 
or in any manner destroyed or deprived of life, liberty, or pro- 
perty, but by the law of the land. No man, and no combina 
tions of men, shall be permitted to exercise power which ha: 
not been delegated to them by the people in the mode design a 
ted in their constitutional treaties. He who offends against 
the law, let him be punished by the law; but if the law con- 
demn him not, neither shall man condemn him. Let us cleave 
with our whole hearts to these plain and venerated maxims of 
justice. Away with those miserable palliations by which vio- 
lence and outrage are attempted to be excused and half justified. 
It is a most dangerous tampering with morals to invent apolo- 
gies for acknowledged crime. Let us no longer hear it pleaded, 
that the provocation was strong — that the multitude meant 
well — that the multitude was misled. What multitude may 
not be misled? When it was wished to drown the feeble voice 
of justice, still but irresolutely declaring that it found no fault 
in the man touching those things whereof he was accused, 
the multitude was made to cry out the more, "crucify him, cru- 
cify him." Yet many of this very multitude, but a few days 
before, had preceded his entrance into the holy city with shouts 
of triumph, proclaiming hosannas to the Son of David, and 
spreading their very garments in his way as tokens of their 
irrepressible love and veneration. The multitude, whoever 
may be the individuals that compose it, is always excitable ; 
the multitude cannot reason; it is unfit to judge ; and by the 
law it is not trusted to judge. Every individual of which it 
is composed would refuse to submit his rights to the adjudica- 
tion of such a body ; has had his voice in making and modify- 
ing the rules by which his rights and the rights of all are to be 



29 

adjudged ; and knows that he sins against those rules, and 
wounds the very life-principle of society, in daring to usurp, as 
one of a multitude, that power which he did not and would not 
commit to any multitude. But " the multitude meant well !" 
Uprightness of intention may be justly pleaded by those whose 
duty it is to act, and who have used every diligence to ascer- 
tain what is right. Hard would be their lot if made penally 
responsible, not only for wickedness of purpose and carelessness 
of effort, but for error of judgment. But not for one moment 
should it be admitted as an apology for any usurper of power. 
Did he not know himself to be fallible ? With that knowledge, 
did he not dare to arrogate what no mortal should ever be per- 
mitted to wield— the unlimited power of inflicting misery at 
discretion? Were he gifted with a judgment of superhuman 
correctness, had he the evidence which could not pervert ; or 
had he the leisure or the patience for investigation ? or could 
he rely on his associates for that wisdom and purity which 
shall discriminate between real and suspected guilt, and appor- 
tion penalties to every grade of offence? 

He who seizes unlawful power is not only guilty of the grie- 
vous crime of usurpation, but he is responsible to God and man 
for every mischievous consequence which results from the 
crime. To God alone is given to foresee, with unerring certain- 
ty, what will follow from human conduct. To man it belongs 
to do what is right — what has been directed — and trust the 
consequences to God. But if he will do what he knows is for- 
bidden, and impiously experiment on human happiness, all the 
misery which follows from the deed accompanies the trans- 
gression, and they both lie at his door. "Yet the provocation 
was strong. 7 ' And for that very reason those who felt them- 
selves provoked were peculiarly disqualified to judge and to 
punish. This pretext of excuse directs our attention at once 
to the great cause wherefore the law allows to no man a right 
of revenge. Every individual who enters into society, surren- 
ders all claim to the power of private judgment and punish- 
ment, because the exercise of it is incompatible with the exist- 
ence of society. If one were allowed to be a judge of his own 
cause, there would be no bounds to his inflictions but the limits 
of his resentment. If one may rightfully exercise this power, 
upon no principle of social equality can it be denied to others. 
The commonwealth would then become, what some theorists 
have supposed the state of nature to have been, a state of mu- 
tual and general war, a society without a principle of cohesion, 
a solecism in terms. The assumption of a power to punish by 



30 

ft combination of men, because they feel or feign themselves 
provoked at what they term misconduct, is far more inad- 
missible and far more terrible than the power of private 
punishment. The unfortunate object of resentment is less able 
to defend himself, and the fury of his foes is not kept in check 
by the fear of retaliation. There is no security for any indivi- 
dual, however blameless or inoffensive his conduct, that some 
•or other of his acts, opinions or expressions — nay, his very for- 
bearance to act or speak — may not be misconceived and mis- 
represented by the folly, rashness or malice of some one of this 
many headed, and many handed multitude, and he thus ren- 
dered the object of the vindictive pursuit of all. Besides, those 
are usually the most vehement in their indignation against the 
misconduct of their fellow men, who are least scrupulous to 
avoid misconduct themselves. It is a cheap mode of acquiring 
a. reputation for moral excellence. It costs no personal priva- 
tion to visit with severity the sins of our neighbors. And in 
every combination of provoked men, the passions become mad- 
dened by contagious sympathy, the most furious take the lead, 
and the comparatively moderate must either follow or acquiesce 
in their dictation. It is not punishment which they would in- 
flict ; but it is vengeance which they would gratify. Vengeance 
is unsated if but one victim elude its fury ; the innocent may 
suffer, but the guilty must not escape. Not in this spirit does 
the law denounce or inflict its penalties. It knows that ven- 
geance belongs not to man. It would rather that many guilty 
should escape with impunity, than one innocent being suffer 
wrong. It corrects as a father should chastise. The reforma- 
tion of the culprit, and the safety of the community, are the sole 
purposes for which it arms itself with terrors, or will consent 
to cause human suffering. It allows no angry passions to dis- 
turb its even course. It permits not the provoked individual, 
nor those who from the ties of blood or affinity, may feel the 
provocation, to take a part in the adjudication, although the 
offence has been previously defined, and the measure of the 
punishment precisely limited. No; the spirit of lawful punish- 
ment has nothing in common with that of mob-violence. It 
breathes a purer atmosphere ; it lives in a higher region ; it 
reigns, calm, pure and holy, far above the dark mists, and foul 
vapours, and wild uproar of earth-born passion. 

Perpetuum nulla (emeratus nube eerenum, 
Celsior exsurgit pluviis, audilque ruentes 
.Sub pedibus nimbos, ct rauca tonitrua calcat. 

Attachment to the community of which we are members, it 



31 

a principle of social union implanted in our nature by the alf- 
wise Creator, who willed that men should form themselves into - 
states. In the ignorant, it operates with the constancy and 
blindness of an instinct ; manifesting itself sometimes in gene- 
rous self-devotion to the common cause, and, at others, in dis- 
gusting national vanity, or in silly hatred of other communi- 
ties. But when this instinct is regulated by reason, refined by 
moral associations, and controlled by a spirit of good will to 
the whole human race, it becomes one of the most exalted prin- 
ciples of action, the spur which "the clear spirit doth raise" 
to virtuous, heroic and patriotic deeds. Surely, my friends, 
we may say, without incurring the imputation of arrogance or 
vanity, that we have a country worthy of our love. Her 
free, and mild, and beneficent institutions give us protection at 
home, and a name that commands reverence abroad. But pro- 
tection will be gone, and renown lost, if she cease to be the 
land of law, order and freedom. Her venerable institutions 
must then give place to misrule, and that proud name become 
a hissing and a reproach in the mouths of men. The light of 
American freedom now shines as a beacon to many afar off; a 
star of hope to the affrighted, of gladness to the benevolent, 
and of encouragement to the oppressed of the earth. But 
extinguished, it will be remembered as a delusive meteor which 
rose full of promise, dazzled with momentary splendour, and 
then left the world in deeper darkness than before. This must 
not be. On this venerated and loved spot, where the seeds of 
virtuous wisdom were early planted in our minds ; where we 
were taught to reverence God and to do good to man ; to con- 
sider every change and condition of life worthy to be prized 
as affording occasions for the performance of duty; to regard 
individual happiness as indissolubly bound up in the happiness 
of our friends, our companions and our fellow men ; where 
patriotism was not merely cherished as an instinct, but culti- 
vated, purified, and made holy- as a moral principle ; here let 
us resolve to do what in us lies, and what to us belongs, to per- 
petuate this country. Not those only who wield public au- 
thority, or sit in the public counsels, are charged with this 
office. Ambitious men may raise and disappear; parties may 
struggle, and power often change hands; but our country will 
remain, our country will "flourish in immortal youth," unhurt 
amidst the crush of contending factions, and surviving the 
wreck of most mortal things, if the soul of national freedom 
be kept alive. The breath of that .life is virtue. Demoralized 
public sentiment is a mephitic gas in which freedom dies. Let 



32 

us all then perseveringly contribute our aid to keep public sen- 
timent pure. 

Yon, younof men of the rising generation, your country's 
promise, her present hope and her future stay — your generous 
natures will not permit you to be neutral or cold in this sacred 
cause. Enlarge your minds with knowledge, strengthen yonr 
capacities for usefulness, control yonr animal appetites, fortify 
yonr principles, and rule yonr fiery passions, that you may be 
the better able to " bind the rage and stay the headlong course" 
of others. You who are engaged in the various occupations 
of life, and take a part in those contests which are inseparable 
from its concerns, and which unavoidably excite temporary 
dissensions and angry feelings, remember, in the very tempest 
and whirlwind of the conflict, that no triumph can compensate 
or atone for an injury to the public morals. These destroyed, 
no contest remains worthy of honourable ambition. And let 
us, who have nearly reached the goal of onr earthly career, by 
precept, and still more by example, strive to win all to modera- 
tion, candour, justice and benevolence. Let us seek to obtain, 
and when obtained, let us hold fast, whatsoever things are ho- 
nest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Then may we 
hope, by God's blessing on our endeavours, to accomplish what 
we all so fervently desire; and then, at the worst, and happen 
what may, none will be able to take from us the consolation of 
virtuous intentions and diligent efforts, 



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